Masquerade
by Ileau
Summary: It's two years later. Raoul and Christine are happily married with no children-- yet. Christine and Raoul are invited to a Masquerade ball. When Raoul arrives late, things get... weird.
1. Chapter 1

It was 10:00 AM, and Christine still wasn't up yet. Raoul, with a pinch of humor, opened up the curtains. White light shone all over her face, waking her up, if anything.  
"What is it..." she said, sleepily. "Morning already?" She sat up, with her arms bent behind her back, her hair pulled to the side. Raoul stood by the nightstand.  
"Yes, dear, it's ten o'clock."  
Christine got up out of bed, tied on a robe, slipped on her boots without tying them, and sat down in a chair in the hallway, next to the window. Raoul ran his usual business, getting dressed, combing back his hair, letting the dog out, and much else, making at least ten circles around her. Christine would usually stare outside for a few minutes each morning.  
At 10:18 Christine decided to get up and go outside with the dog to water the garden. She was surprised to see a little piece of paper tied with a red ribbon over it. Raoul came rushing outside, picked up the note, and read it. Christine pouted at him for not letting her read it. He skimmed across it, like he didn't want her to know what it said.  
He looked at her, and said, "It says they want us at the Opera Populaire, at their New Year's Masquerade. Simple, really." He dropped the note on the front step, and walked back inside. Christine picked up the note and read it. He was right-- a New Year's Masquerade! She was very excited for this event, since she hadn't seen any of Meg, Madame Giry, or any of the others since the little incident with the fire.  
She simply had to get her costume ready, it was only in two days!

The next morning, Christine was awake an hour before Raoul, which was unusual, because almost every day of their two-year marriage, he was awake long before her. He awoke frantic, afraid she had been kidnapped in his sleep. He leapt out of bed, ran down the hallway, tripped overthe chair, and stopped himself in the kitchen. Christine was there, the dog not too far behind her. She was wearing a bright yellow knee-length dress without shoes. She seemed to be attempting to cook.  
She flipped the pan in her hand, and managed to say "Good morning, Raoul!", before flipping the pan again.  
"What are you doing up at..." He checked the clock, "Seven thirty?"  
"Making breakfast," she said, "Like other wives do."  
"Chris, they make breakfast for their children, and make sure they aren't late to get to the schoolhouse." Christine flipped the pan a little too high this time, and the contents went directly onto Raoul's uncombed hair.  
He made an annoyed face, and smeared at his hair. "Christine," he said, obviously frustrated.  
Christine made a wide Judy Garland-style face, "Yes, Raoul?"  
"You don't..."  
"Yes?"  
"Flip..."  
"Mhm..."  
"Eggs."  
"Oh..." Christine sighed.  
"Chris, why did you even try? Even Erik knows you can't cook"  
Christine turned sharply, "What?!"  
"I said, even Eris knows you can't cook."  
Christine then remembered they named their dog Eris. She turned back around, a bit frazzled, bringing back those haunting memories at the Opera Populaire.  
"Chris, I'd like to say something about the masquerade tomorrow."  
Christine turned back around. She had aborted the whole Judy Garland approach. "Go on..."  
"We're still keeping our marriage a secret, right?" he asked.  
"Yeah, I guess so. For all Meg knows, I live with Erik."  
The memories of Erik brought chills down Raoul's spine. The trap doors, the water cages, the swordfights, but worst of all, the lasso that nearly killed him.  
"Earth to Raoul!" Christine called, "So what's the plan?"  
"Plan? Oh, plan! Umm... you come there by yourself, then I'll come over a few minutes later..." he said nervously.  
"Deal!" Christine cried, and skipped down the hallway. 


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning.

Once again, Raoul was up before Christine. He woke up, got out of bed, got dressed, opened the door, stubbed his toe on the chair in the hallway, and met Christine in the kitchen again.  
"Come on, slowpoke, we're gonna be late!" she called to him, gathering her things.  
"Oh... but it's only nine!" he stumbled.  
"Yes, but we live 100 miles away. Now, I'll go now, and you come at ten. Alright?" she asked, running in circles around him, grabbing her dress and stuffing it into a bag, Raoul unable to see it.  
"Alright, Chris..." he sleepily said.  
Christine slipped on a pair of high-heeled ankle boots. "Okay, goodbye, then!"  
"Goodbye, Chris..." he said, just before falling back asleep.

*  
That evening.

Christine got out of the carriage, now in her gown after a two-hour struggle with it in the carriage. It felt nice to move her legs after ten long hours in the carriage.  
She heard a familiar voice call, "Christine!" It was Meg, an adult now. She was an entire inch taller than Christine now, her long, dark hair in a bun, with curled sides perfectly introducing her blue eyes, long nose, thin wide lips, and high cheekbones.  
"Meg! Is that really you?" she called in surprise.  
"Come on inside, they restored this place after the little fire incident"  
"Don't remind me," Christine thought.  
She saw a whole crowd of people, in black, white, red, and every color in between. About half were wearing masks over their face, but one caught her eye. It was white, with thin black stripes over the cheekbones and nose, and pink dots under the eyes. The man wearing it was tall, thin, and moving toward her. By thin, I don't mean not-overweight thin, but unhealthily thin; like he hadn't eaten a good meal in weeks.  
"I'll leave you two alone now" Meg said, nervously tiptoing away. Christine then realized the man in the mask was beside her.  
"Hello there," Christine said nervously, "What's your name?"  
"My name, is V." he stated. "Yours?"  
"Christine..." she said softly. She remembered that voice from somewhere... but where? Where?  
The orchestra started a lively piece. "Shall we dance?" V asked her, giving her his gloved hand.  
Christine smiled, and took his hand. "We shall."  
They took hands, waltzed a little, spun a bit, dipped, waltzed some more, turned, and repeated until the piece was done.  
V and Christine, hand in hand, walked over to the drink table together, meeting Meg there.  
She was obviously drunk. "Ahh, Christine," she bobbled, "You found somebody... how did it go? How did the dance go? Did you... dance?"  
"Yes we did," V answered, for her, "And she's a wonderful dancer. Did you ever train?"  
"I was a ballerina back when I worked here."  
Meg smiled. "I am just gonna leave you two alone now. Bye!" she shouted, obnoxiously.  
"Yes, Christine, she's right." V seductively told her. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and took her to a secluded door under the staircase.  
"Where are we?" Christine asked.  
"Trust me, I know my way around here."  
He opened the door, lit a candle that just-so-happened to be there, and told her to sit on a cushion in the middle of the room. She did. It was unusually soft and comfortable.  
"V," Christine studdered, "Can you tell me why we're here?"  
V turned to face her. "Christine, I have to tell you something..."  
"What?" Christine returned her Judy Garland approach, although you couldn't tell by the candle-light.  
"You might hate me for it,"  
"But we just met. How can I hate someone I just met?"  
"Christine, this isn't the first time we've met..."  
"It isn't?"  
"No, it isn't, Christine." He pulled back his mask.  
Christine gasped. "Angel?" 


	3. Chapter 3

Christine gasped. "Angel? Is that you?"  
V looked at the ground. "Christine, I'm not your angel of music, I am Erik."  
Christine took a moment to really look at Erik's face. She saw two halves of it-- the first half smooth, flawless peachy-gray skin; the other side a slightly deeper charcoal gray, except for the scars here and there, and a grey-and-brown gap where his nose should have been, as well as a few bald patches in his flat, blonde-brown hair. She raised one hand in the air, and moved it from side to side. When her hand was on one side, she saw a sexy, taunted genius. On the other side, she saw a monster.  
Christine almost cried when she finally realized something; for all his life, all anyone noticed was the monster, and not the genius. The murderer, not the musician. The madman, not the troubled magician. All he asked of her was to be loved, and she didn't even give him that. She left him cold, alone, miserable-- more cold, more alone, and more miserable than he had ever been. No one else would ever even appreciate him, let alone love him. And she went off with the man who wouldn't have even noticed her if that curtain hadn't fallen on Carlotta.  
Christine was practically in tears. "Erik, I'm sorry... I... I didn't know your... agony... I... I was too young to understand..."  
Erik leaned forward, and put his hand on her left shoulder. "All I wanted was to make you happy. Did I make you happy by letting Raoul go free with you?"  
Christine leant on Erik's shoulder. "At first, but now I feel so... so guilty! I abandoned you and left you to die, after all you did for me! All you asked in return was to be loved, and I was too selfish to even do that!" Christine was now sobbing, burying her head into his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her, and rocked her back and forth, back and forth, as she cried. This went on for about five minutes, until Christine leaned her head up off of his shoulder.  
"All you wanted was to be loved, loved by me in particular," she said, tears still streaking down her face, "and now, I'll give you what you've wanted from me."  
Christine and Erik stared into each other's eyes, and they both knew what the other was thinking. They leant their heads together, and lightly touched their lips together. They both pulled away a bit, then sprung back together like two magnets. Erik thrust her lips apart, and she didn't resist. He grabbed the back of her head with one hand, her hips with the other. They both tumbled to the hard tile floor, still kissing the whole time. Erik licked the corner of Christine's upper lip, then into her mouth, feeling her cheeks, then gently ran his tongue against the backs of her front teeth. Christine nearly melted in his arms. She grabbed his head with one hand and his neck with the other, and pressed herself against him. She even gathered the courage to move her tongue a little, too, and then, their tongues touched. It was almost like they were kissing as well. Then, Christine pulled herself away.  
"What is it," Erik asked, "Anything wrong?"  
"Christine stared into the face that she had kissed, and boldly, but ever so softly, said, "Erik Destler, make love to me." 


	4. Chapter 4

Erik didn't say a word at what Christine had said a second before, he simply unzipped her Masquerade gown, brushed the sleeves off her shoulders, and pulled the skirt down to her ankles. At the same moment, Christine undid the button on Erik's cloak and sent it to the floor. She unbuttoned a few buttons from his shirt, and tugged on his sleeves. They leaned their heads together, and softly kissed. But the softness didn't last, and they went back to what they were doing before. Erik lifted Christine up off the ground, carried her to a nearby door she hadn't noticed before, opened the door, went down many, many steps, and finally arrived in the Opera's basement.  
"Had this been damaged by the fire?" Christine curiously asked.  
"Of course not, it was built on a lake!"  
"Oh." Christine was still curious, if they had ever noticed he still lived here, or if he even did still live there, or if it was a temporary thing.  
He carried her to the swan bed, which was there before. He laid her down, and he lay down next to her. She was leaning herself against the frame, while he leaned his head against her neck, and picked up where they left off.

***

Raoul ran out of the carriage as fast as he could. He ran into Monseur Firmin and Andre, but ignored them. He soon caught up to the still-intoxicated Meg.  
"Meg! Is that you?"  
"I'm me, but I don't know about you are!"  
"Meg, this is serious. Have you seen Christine?"  
"Christine, yeaah."  
"Where?"  
"She got here, like, an hour ago, buddy."  
"Don't call me that. Now where did she go?"  
"She went off with V..."  
"Who the hell is V?"  
"I dunno. But they went into that dooooooor..."  
Raoul left Meg behind and ran across all the Masqueraders and through the door. He lit a candle, and saw a white, pine-green and purple Masquerade gown, as well as a black cloak. He also noticed an open door. He rushed through it, without even thinking. He ran down many, many, many stairs, getting lost every once in a while and fell through the occasional trap door. After a long while of stairs, stairs, and more stairs, he finally came to a candle-lit lair. He passed an organ, a palace of scary voodoo dolls, and finally, a corner with a bed shaped like a swan. The curtain was up, and he kept himself well-hidden.  
He saw two people. He saw a slim woman with dark, curly hair resting, almost sleeping, next to a barely-awake man with blonde-brown hair and... his face... Raoul then realized what happened.  
He walked up to them, and fearlessly said, "Christine, how could you? 


	5. Chapter 5

"Chris, how could you?" Raoul was shocked, outraged, heartbroked. Christine and Erik both woke up, and took a second to realize what was going on. Erik gasped, and Christine shreiked and wrapped her arms around Erik's neck. Raoul turned from heartbreak to rage in just a few seconds.  
"Raoul," Christine breathed, heavily, "If I knew you would find out, I wouldn't have..."  
Raoul could hardly control himself. "Not... another... word..." he managed to release through his clenched teeth.  
Christine was getting a bit worried. "Raoul, control yourself..."  
For him, it was the final straw. "You didn't!" he almost screamed. He ran over to Christine, picked her up off of Erik's bed, and threw her down onto the cold, stone floor. Christine sat herself up and squeezed at her throbbing, possibly broken, wrist. Raoul pushed her back onto the floor, Christine wincing in pain. He supported himself by placing his hands just above her shoulders. He paused for a moment, listening to Christine's panting.  
"Happy now?" he asked as he lowered his exposed body onto her. He entered her with a fierceness and rage indescribable, purposely trying to cause her as much agony and anguish as possible. Christine moaned in pain. He entered her so hard her head hit the cold, stone floor up and down, up and down. Erik couldn't watch Raoul rape Christine. He then realized what he could do to save her. He got up, and began to dress, but by the sounds of Christine screaming, he decided there wasn't enough time. He simply ran to the organ, and took something from underneath it.  
Christine's screaming grew louder, more of a priority, when something took Raoul off of her and pinned him to the lattice nearby. It was Erik. He took a rope and tied Raoul's arms and legs to the lattice. When Erik was sure he couldn't escape, he ran over to Christine. She was shaking, her teeth and naked body rattling, and she was covered in blood. Erik took Raoul's puffy-laced shirt from nearby, wiped some of the blood off Christine, and noticed she had four wounds-- one on her left hip, two on each of her thighs, and one on her right shoulder-- across her body, and a pointed stalagmite for each. More blood poured out of Christine, causing her to pass out.  
"I'll deal with you later." he told Raoul, harshly. He picked up Christine off of the bloody floor, carried her up a long flight of stairs, up to the hidden room, and back to the Masquerade ball. It was still bright and lively, with people dancing in beautiful, bright, cheery costumes. Most everyone was too busy to see a half-naked opera ghost carrying a bloody, possibly dead, body as something that would stand out. It was a while before Erik ran into who he was looking for.  
"Madame! There you are!"  
Madame Giry looked at the half naked Erik, and the blood-covered Christine. "I am not even zoing oo ask."  
Erik tried to make the puppy-dog eyes as best he could. "Please, she might die soon."  
Madame Giry grabbed his arm. "I ill zee vat I can do." 


	6. Chapter 6

Christine felt very dizzy. All she could see was bright-white blur, and she could hear three people talking.  
She heard an older woman say, "Is zhe zoing oo be alright, Dohter?"  
She heard a middle-aged man say, "The worst is over, but we still need to keep a close eye on her for the next day or so."  
She next heard a familiar man's voice say, "That's good. She was closer to bleeding to death than she would like to know."  
The woman said, "Yes, it vill take veeks to clean zat up."  
Christine opened her eyes, "Where am I? I feel sick..."  
The middle-aged man, a surgeon, said, "That's normal, you still have a dangerously low amount of blood in you. It should go away by the day after tomorrow."  
The woman, Madame Giry, said, "I am jhust thankful zhe's alright. No one, not even a murderer, zhoud have to go through vat happened to you last night."  
Christine, still dazed, managed to get out, "Oh, it's all coming back now... the preparations, Meg, a masked stranger, the dance, the secret room... and the underside of this place... and Erik, a- and Raoul, and, and Raoul was so angry that... that..."  
The familiar voice, Erik, said, "Oh! I forgot about Raoul! Oh well, he deserves it. How long should I keep him there?"  
Madame Giry said, "Note much longer, ve don't want oo kill-eh him."  
The surgeon chimed in, "Let's the four of us go to get him-- it'll definitely jog memories for Christine."  
Erik looked at Christine. "Christine, are you feeling any better?"  
Christine sat up. "A little. Oh, now I'm feeling sick again..."  
"There's a solution for that!" Erik said as he lifted her up and slung her over his shoulder.  
"This isn't making me feel any better."  
"Yes, but it'll get us there."  
The four started their journey along with the no-longer-intoxicated Meg, and about six police officers, all down the long flight of stairs where Raoul was still tied and fast asleep. Memories rushed back into Christine. She started to gasp, then scream, then ask, "Why? Why would he do this to me? I thought he loved me!"  
"Zat's ze problem," Madame Giry interrupted, "He loved you too much to zee you vith zomeone else. His anger got ze better of him. I'm zure he regrets it."  
Just like how I regret last night, she told herself, I went against my wedding vows last night. "I can't expect him not to be angry..." she said out loud.  
"Of course," Madame Giry replied, "But ve can expect him to be mature about zis."  
They all finally reached the bottom of the stairs, and two of the police officers went up to the still-tied Raoul and shook him awake.  
One of them said, "Raoul, Vicomte Dechagney, you are under arrest for rape and attempted murder," just as Raoul woke up and realized what was going on.  
Erik set Christine down on a side of the swan-bed. He whispered into her ear, "I know how overwhelming this must feel, so I would like to say, Viscountess Christine Daae Dechagney, I love you, and I know you can do this." The words felt unusual coming from him, espescially how this had only been the second time he had ever used the word "love" in his life.  
Christine got up, and went over a few steps to Raoul, police officers restraining him. She ran her hand down his cheek, and said, "Raoul, how could you?" 


	7. Chapter 7

"Raoul, how could you?"  
Christine looked at her husband softly, innocently. Could this be the end of us? Christine thought. A thousand emotions swirled through her at once-- shock, anger, fear, hurt, denial, and not to mention that dizzyness and persistent headache to go along. Christine watched as the officers took Raoul up the stairs.  
"Come on, Christine, zet's go," Madame Giry grabbed Christine's arm, and took her up the many stairs, Erik and Meg not too far behind.  
When the four of them finally reached the door, room, and finally the front room, there were maids everywhere, cleaning Christine's blood from the floors and wall.  
"It'z amazing how much blood is in ze body." Madame Giry said, breaking the awkward silence. The sight of her own blood caused Christine to suddenly vomit.  
"Aw, no..." Meg sighed, "Cleanup!"  
Another maid came and mopped the vomit from the floor.  
Erik turned Christine around. "Anything wrong?"  
"No, I'm alright, it's ju--" Christine doubled over and vomited again on Erik's foot. The maid turned around and immediately began at the new mess, completely abandoning the other two.  
Christine looked up. "I'm feeling much better now."  
"Ve need to get you home now," Madame Giry added. She took Christine out of the doors and across the sidewalks, filled with newspaper reporters and others who wanted to know about last night's Masquerade Murder. Erik followed close behind.  
Madame Giry gave orders to the driver, and opened the cab for Christine to get in. Erik caught up while Madame showed the driver where to go.  
Christine looked at Erik from the carriage. "I'll write a letter!"  
"I'll be waiting!"  
Madame Giry closed the door, and the cab started away, as the rain began to fall. All of the crowds were still trying to find their way into the building as Madame Giry pushed her way through. Christine waved her hand to Erik as she left, and he returned the wave. The rain started harder. Erik stared at the carriage until it was no longer in sight.

***

Ten long hours later, Christine finally arrived in front of her home. Another carriage was there, bringing Raoul out as well. She bravely left the cab, when an officer stopped her and told her, "Your husband has been put under house arrest for the next year."  
"This'll be fun," she sarcastically told herself. 


End file.
